Smoking articles, particularly cigarettes, generally comprise a tobacco rod of shredded tobacco (usually, in cut filler form) surrounded by a paper wrapper, and a cylindrical filter aligned in an end-to-end relationship with the tobacco rod. The tobacco rod is generally about 7.0 and 10.0 millimeters in diameter and 60 millimeters and 125 millimeters in length.
Typically, the filter includes a plug of cellulose acetate tow attached to the tobacco rod by tipping paper. Ventilation of mainstream smoke can be achieved with a row or rows of perforations about a location along the filter. In addition, activated carbon can be added to the filter to remove many gas phase components from the smoke. Unfortunately, American smokers perceive a taste deficit with carbon-filter cigarettes.